Since there was a significant increase in the proliferation rate of CAFs incubated with cmHCC1937 and not in CAFs incubated with cmHCC1937/wt BRCA1 (as evident from the MTT and the colony formation assay), we presumed that the CAFs might have been transformed to an altered phenotype by the secretory elements or soluble factors from the BRCA1 deficient cancer cells (Fig. 3A,B). The gene discussed is BRCA1; the disease is cancer.